Sorry for the late review of the April Games. My beautiful wife got me God of War for Easter and I wanted to try the game to include in this post.
Uncharted 4, I already knew I was going to have a great time. I wished I had finished Chapter 7 when I initially played it on disc, as my checkpoint was not saved and I had to restart the entire chapter. I believe I refound all of the treasures, but time will tell on that. That was on me, I knew I should have finished the chapter, but never got around to it. I am committed to playing the game until I finished it. I have a pretty length game rotation shaping up.
DiRT Rally 2.0, on the other hand, was not a bad game. Once I stumbled onto changing the car angle to the more traditional racing style – so that the camera is behind the car, I had a better time with the game.
A nice redditor provided me a trophy guide for the game, so that was nice to have some direction. I earned the following trophies : Adaptable, CAUTION, Don’t Cut, and A Household Name.
So I feel like I got to sample the game enough and feel pretty good about it.
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Right now, Sony is currently giving away the Uncharted Collection and Journey for PS4. Even if you redeemed Uncharted Collection back in January through PS Plus, they made it so you can claim the digital code separately, as once you claim the games, you have them forever. It ends sometime early in May, so you may want to do it now. I added copies to both Walker Dennis’ account and my wife’s account. Might as well, as one never knows.
The games are part of PlayStation’s Stay At Home Initiative, and they donated ten million dollars as well to independent developers. The games are available until May 5.
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God of War has been an amazing experience! We are currently chasing a boar, after killing the second troll. So I am pretty early in the game, but having a blast. I keep thinking about how I need to be a better father. There are all of these instances were we see Kratos trying or wanting to put his hand on Atreus’ shoulder, or his back, in support and to show some tenderness, but keeps hesitating. Some heart breaking things. Of course, I am playing at night, so I wake up with the best intentions to tell Walker Dennis how much I love him, and show him instead of just hoping he knows.
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I have not had a chance to go back to Life is Strange Before the Storm, but I will get back to it eventually.
Walker Dennis got Minecraft for Easter, for the PS4, and we had a fun time playing that for an hour. I could have really used a tutorial, but I was able to stumble my way across how to build things. I bought him like $20 worth of DLC, but did not see any of it load, so hopefully the next time we log in it is there. Most DLC I have purchased on my Plus account, shows up on his account, so I am really hoping Minecraft is not an exception to that rule.
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I did get to play a good chuck of our Lego games. I am committed to playing these games on Walker’s account, but he is not as dedicated to trophy hunting as I am, so I had to start new saved files on my own account.
Lego DC Supervillains, I fought Poison Ivy and reconnected with Harley Quinn. Lego City Undercover, this game takes a little longer to do the Special Operations, which is the traditional Lego level. Plenty to do on the open map, but I wanted to play the game until I got the first mission completed, and will do so until I got the second mission. So I am set up for the next time I play. Lego Jurassic Park, I got through the first level and like City Undercover, there is plenty to do on the open map. Which now that I typed this, most Lego games have that transition from one level to the next, but both of these games feels like there is an activity we do prior to starting the next level. Whereas the recent games, feel like we are merely following the trail, and getting to the next level. Which I don’t mind, but I do sort of like incorporating the earning of the next level, plus it gives me a little more time in the game.
So that’s what I have been up too. I am not sure when I will stop playing God of War to get to Life is Strange Before the Storm, but I might just hit a wall of feeling that I have played the game enough and start craving playing another game.
I have also made a list of games that I have gotten through PS+, and I do want to start chipping away at these past games. These are the 12 games :
In Space We Brawl
99 Vidas
King Oddball
Absolver
Extreme Exorcism
Space Overlords
Knowledge is Power
Another World
QUBE Director’s Cut
Laser League
Rocketbirds 2 : Evolution
Iconoclasts
I keep having this nagging feeling that I want to buy a new game (which is dumb, as I have plenty of a backlog of games), but playing these games should satisfy that inch. My plan is to simply go down this list and earn the first trophy and commit a night to the game. Which I type that, and I have not been able to game for the past two nights, which is starting to nag at me as I really do enjoy my time to relax.
I meant to do a post about games I am playing during the Coronavirus but I have been working four tens for the past few weeks and I knew the announcement for the Free PS+ Games was coming soon, so I have been drafting this in head for a bit.
The April 2020 PS+ Games are Uncharted 4 and Dirt Rally 2.0. PlayStation Access accidentally revealed these last week, and now we know it was probably Nathan who did it, as he provides the narration in the video below.
I already own Uncharted 4, so I am going to wait for another bonus credit deal at GameStop and I can turn in both the Uncharted Collection and Uncharted 4 at that time.
Dirty Rally 2.0, seems to be a game that no one has taken the time to create a guide for, which seems bonkers to me. I will at least play it until I earned one trophy.
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PSPrices
Uncharted 4 is typically a $19.99 game, but goes as low as $9.99.
Dirt Ralley 2.0 is typically $59.99, it is currently $39.99, so hopefully no one buys it this week! It has been as low as $17.99.
So the games together are a value of $28, at their lowest.
Our running total was $61, so another $28, makes $89, so PS Plus is definitely paying for itself.
PS Store
Uncharted 4 has quite a few items on the PlayStation store :
Harry Flynn
Orca
Knot
Katherine Marlowe
Victor Sullivan
Nathan Drake (which you may have already as it was part of the Player Appreciation package).
Sam Drake
Elena Fisher
Zoran Lazarevic
Charlie Cutter
Victor Sullivan (Hero)
Sam Drake (Hero)
Nathan Drake (Hero)
Elena Fisher (Hero)
Pack 1, $1.49 (including both brothers, Sully, and Elena)
Hero Pack $1.49, which includes Cutter and the characters from Pack 1’s hero version)
Villain Avatar Pack, $1.49
Themes
Fire, $1.99
Shipwreck, $1.99
Ink, $1.99, which I bought, as it was the only one that featured Elena.
Dirt Rally 2.0 DLC includes :
Vehicles
Subaru Impreza, $1.49
Fully Loaded Rallycross Pack, $1.99
Fully Loaded Mini Pack, $1.99
Fully Loaded Ford Pack, $1.99
Citroen C$ Rally, $1.49
Ford Fiesta Rallycross (STARD), $1.49
Sea Ibiza RX, $1.49
Renault Megane R.S. RX, $1.49
Mini Cooper SX1, $1.49
Peugeot 208 WRX, $1.99
Volkswagen Golf Kitcar, $1.49
Opel Manta 400, $1.49
Lancia Delta S4 Rallycross, $1.49
H2 RWD Double Pack, $1.99
Ford Fiesta Rallycross (MK8), $1.49
Lancia 037 Evo 2, $1.49
Porshe 911 SC RS, $1.49
SKODA Fabia Rally, $1.49
Ford RS200 Evolution, $1.99
Rnault Clio R.S. RX, $1.49
Peugeot 206 Rally, $1.49
MG Metro 6R4 Rallycross, $1.49
Seat Ibiza Kit Car, $1.99
BMW M1 Procar Rally, $1.49
Peugeot 306 Maxi, $1.99
Peugeot 205 T16 Rallycross, $1.99
Subaru Impreza (2001), $1.49
Starter Car Upgrade, $0.99
Car Variety Pack, $3.99
Opel Kadett C CT/E, $0.99
Porsche 911 RGT Rally Spec, $1.49
Audi S1 EKS RX quattro, $1.99
Ford Focus RS Rally 2007, $1.49
Ford Focus RS Rally 2001, $1.49
Ford Fiesta RXS Evo 5, $1.99
Maps
Greece Rally, $3.99
Sweden Rally, $3.99
Finland, $3.99
Monte Carlo, $3.99
Bikernieki, Latvia, $3.99
Wales, $3.99
Estering, Germany, $3.99
Killarney, International, South Africa, $3.99
Yas Marina Circuit, $3.99
Lydden Hill, UK, $3.99
Various
Colin McRae : Flat Out Pack, $9.99, which includes 40 challenging scenarios, 12 new breathtaking rally routes through Scotland, and two vehicles.
Year One Pass, $19.99
Seasons 3 & 4 Pack, $11.99
There is also a Game of the Year Edition for $59.99.
Some seem annoyed that now everyone owns the entire Uncharted franchise, minus Lost Legacy. Some predict Lost Legacy will be the free game in a few months. Almost like a movie is in the works, or something?
Then poor Dirt Rally 2.0 seems to be a real head scratcher.
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Here are my YouTube peeps :
Nathan with PlayStation Access :
Adam with PlayStation Grenade :
Ben with Platinum Chasers :
Ben’s video finally made it to the top of the list of results for “PS+ April 2020 Games.” Usually I have to do that search and add “Platinum Chasers,” to the search, so hopefully that means people are finding his excellent videos and he’s moving up the list.
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Here is the PlayStationTrophies.org guide to Uncharted 4 :
Looking at the list, I am hoping I can at least earn one of these :
Antilog Engaged, Purchase your first FIA World Rallycross Supercar
That’s Dedication, Complete 3 Weekly Community Events
Eat my DiRT, Complete 20 Custom Events
Clown Car, Complete 50 Joker laps
CAUTION, Don’t Cut, Complete a stage without damaging your car (I doubt it though)
Qualified, Complete Your first AI Challenge
Adaptable, Complete a stage in Dry, Overcast, Rain and Wet conditions
Fine Tuned, Create and save your own tuning setup
I imagine I will at least earn Qualified and Adaptable, those would be my main goals. I am not great at racing games, or races in general, if I have learned anything from the Lego games.
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There is currently a big April Spring Sale going on right now :
I bought Walker Dennis Lego Jurassic World, as the base game is $5.99, the lowest it goes, and the three DLC plus game came to $10, so that was a pretty good deal.
. . .
In Batman Arkham Asylum, I got to the point where I have to leave the Asylum, to chase down Warden Sharp. Then I got distracted by the big March sale and my new games.
Walker Dennis and I completed Lego DC Supervillains, on his account. I earned trophies like every other session, so I have to play on my own. We completed the six bonus missions, so now we have full access to the open map, so he’s excited about that.
. . .
Slender The Arrival was pretty cheap, like three dollars, and I saw there were like four trophies we could earn during the simple Prologue, so I bought it and earned those trophies. Maybe in October, I will really commit to playing the game again.
. . .
I bought Walker Dennis Lego City Undercover, and we completed the Prison Island mission, which is essentially a complete homage to Shawshank Redemption, which I really appreciated.
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Walker Dennis has been at home as his school is closed until April 10 (hopefully!), and he just loves the Goat Simulator game. My wife was kind enough to buy a $20 gift card and now he has the DLC collection. I was hoping she was going to buy a $25 card and I would have gotten five dollar credit, but she outsmarted me.
I really enjoyed the MMO and the Payday DLC. Zombies is alright, I am not much of a zombie guy, and Space seems to be the one Walker Dennis really enjoys the most, and it is the one I earned the least amount of trophies in.
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My wife and I have started really playing Jeopardy on the PS4, and we are having a blast. I do not forget how smart she is but I am reminded of how smart she is and also how competitive she gets. I definitely enjoy Jeopardy over the Wheel of Fortune game, but we have been playing that as well.
. . .
I treated myself to Joe Mad’s Battle Chasers Anthology, that collects the first nine issues and has a slew of extras :
The reviews state that the spine of the trade is pretty weak but I did not have any problems with my copy.
During the March sale, Battle Chasers Nigthwar was around eight dollars, so I snatched it up. I like how it purposely takes place in a different area, so you do not have to read the collection, but it helps to get to know the characters better. The game gives little hints at previous adventures. I am at Junktown, and just having my butt handed to me. Most of my team is Level 12, and I get the impression I am probably two levels below where I am. But I really wanted a RPG, so I am trying to not forget the game and come back to it as often as I can. The main town has a mission where I have to clear out all of the slime, the same city that had the spider problem, and I am clearly supposed to be level 15 for that.
I want to be at least at the level of the main threat, which I believe was level 13 for the slime, and most enemies at Junktown seem to be level 12 to 13. I have four members and I know I am supposed to recruit two more members, one I am very familiar with and the other seems to be unique to the game, as I do not believe I saw him in the comic.
. . .
I started Life is Strange : Before the Storm, and I barely started it. I downloaded the bonus episode four, and I am still in Episode 1, Chloe has gone downstairs, and I have the fourth graffiti to still do. My gaming goal is to finish an episode, getting all of the graffiti at the same time, then play Battle Chasers until I level up, and go back and forth between the two games until I earned the Platinum for Life is Strange : Before the Storm, and make serious headway into Battle Chasers Nightwar. I really just want to fill my team with all six characters, and see what clicks.
I feel a tad bad for Calibretto as he was one of my original three with Gully and Garrison. I recruited Knolan, and he was a level higher than my party, so I sort of knew then that I was below where I should be. I believe I am close to getting Red Monika, as the notes around Junktown are referencing a red hair assassin, so that is pretty exciting.
Knolan has a group heal, and that’s sort of what I need. I am still learning the mechanics and finally understanding the merits of using the overcharge battle system, so I have my team hit once, then on their next or third turn, use an attack or heal, that uses up mana (or overcharge) points, and that, I preserve my mana for when I really need it. Which has taken me hours to finally click with the system.
A fun game, I enjoy it, besides the long time it takes to load into the game, but even if I can just load into the game, and complete a few battles on the map, those are less battles I have to do later to level up. It is a bit of a grind fest, but I am here to try for it.
Junktown is such a bigger dungeon as well, with lots of options. I have yet to find a second portal within it so that I can finally save time, as I keep having to leave, go back to the village, rest, and go back. I have committed to stop buying revive potions, as they are expensive and i might as well just die and use the 80 gold to auto return to the village and make my way back to Junktown, going through minor villains, who are not minor at all.
I do like how, with lesser enemies, I get the option to engage in the fight or just move on. If we engage, then we do not earn any xp, but do earn materials and gold.
I like the fishing mechanic as well, but I clearly need better bait and a better fishing rod.
I am clearly just in the beginning of the game, going up against my first real hurdle in it. I will get there eventually, but unlike with Arkham Asylum, I want to commit to this as I have not beaten it before.
Also, owning Nightwar, makes me less incline to purchase other games in the Spring sale. Though seeing Waking Violet for only $2.09 is pretty tempting, even if I just do a few of the puzzles, but I am resisting that urge. Plus, I have these Lego games I can be playing as well. So I really do have plenty of games to play.
Now that my wife is playing on the PS4 (she has really taken to the Switch with Mario Odyssey and Toad Treasure Tracker), I am tempted to buy a few more games for the PS4 for her and I to play, such as Uno or Trivia Pursuit Live. Uno is $4.99, and Trivia Pursuit Live is $5.99, so those are pretty good prices. We used to play Trivia Pursuit on PS3 a bunch, back in the day. Which was a Tuesday.
I have been enjoying the heck out of Sonic Forces. It is a pretty solid Sonic game, I may be even enjoying it so much more than Sonic Mania. I like how there are super simple daily challenges. I will admit I am mostly doing it so that I can earn the 10 daily challenges trophy but I do to mind playing a level a day and doing a daily challenge a day. The level designs are varied and I am enjoying all of the customization I get to do with my avatar.
This is what my avatar looks like right now :
I have over 50 items unlocked thus far.
Will I play after I unlock that trophy, only a few more days will know.
I earned that trophy and I already feel like I am done with Sonic Forces for a bit.
. . .
I killed the first Colossus in Shadow of the Colossus. I liked playing enough, but like I initially felt, I don’t feel compelled to keep playing.
After watching Nathan of PlayStation Access kill the first few Colossi :
Makes me want to at least kill the second one, but I am not super excited to make the attempt.
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I moved my plans to make Life is Strange : Before the Storm my March Platinum to my April Platinum. I made this decision as I finally earned the Lego Batman 3 Platinum!
I really missed these early Lego games, where the missions do not feel like they take forever and the subchapter selection is nice. I have to play the full level in Free Mode but for clean up purposes, it is great to jump in and out of levels once obtaining minikits, or character tokens, or rescuing Adam Wests.
Walker Dennis and I have been playing Lego Incredibles and like Lego DC Supervillains, we are not both earning trophies so that has been highly disappointing. So for now on, I will just play games with Walker Dennis on his account, as I can only imagine how disappointing not earning a trophy is. I already started this policy with Lego DC Supervillians, and I am annoyed that I have to play that game separately, but earning several trophies in Lego Incredibles that he should have rightfully earned, was enough for me to make that decision. He also tells me how disappointing it is, so it is not a secret or anything. Such lousy game design, and with Lego games too. These earlier games are just the way to go.
I also already know I will not get the platinum for Lego Incredibles, as I can’t earn the gold in two races, so that has been a lousy feeling as well. I still want to finish the levels in Free Play, and I do like how there is a trophy for each main level. What I don’t like, is that there is no minikit red brick so I am going to have to look up how to get all of the minikits, which is also annoying. We still want to get more characters, I just have some work to put into it.
Whenever Lego Jurassic Park goes on sale again for under ten dollars, I will probably pick it up as I can only imagine it is a fun game. I know there is no DLC, so hopefully it is more like Lego Batman 3 and not Lego Incredibles. I should probably wait until we have finished Lego DC Supervillians, as it was causing some silly stress having three ongoing Lego games.
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I also earned my second bonus trophy for the year with Hitman Go! Which I can already see myself, once earning 12 platinums, just cooling my quest to earning a platinum a month. 12 sounds good enough to me, one way or the other. I am at five already.
Hitman Go was a lot of fun and so relaxing. Did i just follow a guide the entire way? I sure did and it was just a nice way to start a night’s gaming session. From what I have read, Lara Croft Go is not as good, there are puzzles added to it, which makes sense, and I imagine it is as easy to play but I have never been much of a Tomb Raider guy. I am not much of a Hitman guy either, but playing his games at least exposed me to the character and encouraged me to get this game. That and it being only three dollars.
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I was looking through the Double Discount sale and saw Bulletstorm : Full Clip Edition is currently $24. It was a PS+ title back in November 2018. We also got Yakuza Kiwami, Roundabout, and Burly Men at Sea, that month. I got the platinum for Burly Men at Sea, I enjoyed the silliness of Roundabout and I allowed myself to get stuck on the first real boss of Yakuza Kiwami, and that was enough for me. I never got around to Bulletstorm, as I am not the biggest FPS guy, but I also am trying to make a bigger point of playing these free games I have received.
I finished Act 1, Chapter 1, and got to the train sequence of Chapter 2. I had earned a few trophies along the way, and the game is pretty enjoyable. I keep running out of ammo, so I end up leashing a guy, and kicking him into walls or off cliffs, so that was a fun night.
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I heard Call of Duty Modern Warfare : Warzone was a free battle royale so I gave it a shot. I did the tutorial and the extra practice course for the free item both provided. I then joined the 150 other peeps who were also playing. I was grouped up with two other people for a squad of three. The game looks amazing. It took a while to find a gun with a scope that I prefer. I am a simple man, so I like a scope that just puts a dot on where I am aiming.
I essentially just followed the one guy around the map, and made it all the way to ninth position, so I felt pretty good about that. I probably will not go back to it but it was fun during the 10 minutes or so. There is no trophies for Warzone, so I felt pretty free to just enjoy it.
The one thing I would have liked was to know how to crouch, as I could not figure it out.
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I have made it to just past the Bane fight in Arkham Asylum. I am not sure if the game starts to look worst towards the end, as the main complaints I hear about the Return to Arkham remasters is that the cut scenes look drastically different (and for the worst), but the game looks good to me. The controls are slightly different from Arkham Knight, so that took a little getting used too. Mostly it is realizing I want L1 for detective mode, and not up. Everything else feels pretty good. That and in the fighting, I can’t seem to string a combo together. I am used to punching with Square, and pressing X to evade, and then follow up with punch again, but that does not seem to work as well, just I end up just punching and pressing Triangle to counter, to get any real combo going.
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I sort of feel like I am inbetween games. I really like Arkham Asylum, but I feel like I am waiting for another game to make an appearance to get pulled into. Chrono Trigger celebrated its 25th birthday on March 11, and I think I really want a JRPG to enjoy. I found a list of 50 games like Chrono Trigger on PS4 but the bulk of them are not really jumping out at me.
Persona 5 (1), but I would also just wait for the Royal edition to release. Though the 100 hour time cautions me.
Battle Chasers : Nightwar (6), which next time it is on sale for under ten, I will probably buy it.
I am Setsuna (8), which I know was made to be in the same spirit of Chrono Trigger but the game is rarely on sale, staying at $40.
Cosmic Star Heroine (9), which i played and platinumed, and is the type of game I want to play.
Ni no Kuni II : Revenant Kingdom (18), is on my psprices wishlist but is also an expensive game.
Final Fantasy XV Pocket Edition (23), I am not sure what “Pocket Edition” means, but if the Royal Edition ever drops to under ten, I could be convinced to buy it.
Lost Sphear (25), is the other game inspired by Chrono Trigger like I am Setsuna, but is also a rather expensive game.
What I am looking for is a game I can complete in, ideally, one playthrough, and is not like a 50 hour game, or the 12th entry in a franchise that I have never heard of. What I should do is just buy the Final Fantasy VII game for the PS4, play the heck out of that, and maybe get excited for the Remake. I tried the Demo and there is just something about playing a demo to a game I either will not buy or will buy in a year, that I could not adjust to it.
What I really want, is to be able to buy Chrono Trigger and play it on my PS4. I read that Chrono Cross is also available for the PS3 and Vita through the PSOne Classics line, but those do not have trophies and also, I do not currently own a PS3 or a Vita. If only!
Though seeing Battle Chasers and being tempted to play the game, has made me want to read the comic again.
I know it was never finished and I have the first seven issues (somewhere), but I should treat myself to the Anthology series, actually read it, and then get the game. That is how I should do it.
Shadow and Flame with Magik 